Nature Conservancy Pours Another $200k into Parks Measure

The Nature Conservancy last week poured another $200,000 into the effort to qualify a parks-funding amendment to the Oregon Constitution for the November ballot.

That brings to nearly $900,000 the amount the Nature Conservancy has contributed toward a measure that would make permanent an expiring law that sets aside 15 percent of Oregon Lottery proceeds for parks. That total should be more than enough to qualify the measure for the ballot, despite an earlier hiccup.

But some Salem insiders say the ballot measure, earlier seen as passing easily, may be imperiled by the $577 million budget deficit revealed in the state's recently released quarterly revenue forecast. They say that budget hole will make it harder to convince voters to spend money on parks when teachers and other front-line public employees face layoffs.

Updated at 4:20 pm: Moskovitz does not think budget woes have changed anything.

"I was personally out on the street collecting signatures this weekend," she says. "I didn't see a change in people's desire to protect clean water and parks. I think voters understand that this measure includes no new spending and no cuts to other services."